ICSOBA INTERNATIONAL CONGRESS ON BAUXITE, ALUMINA & ALUMINIUM, 6-9 November 2012 IN BELEM, BRAZIL

Brazil, one of the countries that shows a newly advanced economic development, is an important country for the global aluminium industry. Presently it accounts for 14% of world’s bauxite, 10% of world’s alumina and 4% of world’s aluminium production.

Brazil’s untapped bauxite resources are massive and will serve as basis for future industry developments. Especially the recently developed Paragominas and Juruti mines readily serve future alumina refining developments. The large Trombetas bauxite mine, with a capacity of 18 Mt/y, is famous for its successful mine rehabilitation program.

Recently Brazil pioneered bauxite transport by pipeline, presently transporting bauxite from the Paragominas mine to the Alunorte refinery, involving a transport distance of 250 km. This technology will see increasing global use as new bauxite developments are located more and more in isolated areas.

Brazil’s current alumina refining production is 11.3 Mt and the world’s largest alumina refinery, Alunorte - producing 6.3 Mt/y, is located in Brazil. The nearby CAP (Companhia de Alumina do Pará) project envisages the construction of a similar alumina producing giant forecasted to initially produce 1.9 Mt/y. Votorantim’s project for a mine and refinery at Rondon do Pará will further develop Pará state into one of the world’s major bauxite & alumina production centres. Other important refining operations include Poços de Caldas, CBA and the recently expanded Alumar refinery. The latter plant has two huge digestion units for a total alumina production of 3.5 Mt/y.

Brazil’s aluminium capacity stands at 1.6 Mt/y. The 8,400 MW Tucuruí hydroelectric power plant is the world’s fourth largest facility, feeding the Albras and Alumar aluminium smelters. Other important smelting operations include CBA, Alcoa in Poços de Caldas and Novelis in Ouro Preto.

The recent integration of Vale’s aluminium business with Hydro Aluminium illustrates the importance of Brazil in the global aluminium industry.

In recognition of Brazil’s achievements in the aluminium industry, it was decided to have the ICSOBA-2012 congress in October 2012 in Belem, the capital of Pará state, in collaboration with ABM, the Brazilian Metallurgy, Materials and Mining Association. The selection of Brazil follows ICSOBA’s practice of rotating the venue of International Meetings to countries that are important for the global aluminium industry.

The ICSOBA-2012 Conference will include key note addresses by eminent persons, Round-Robin sessions on Brazilian bauxite, alumina and aluminium industry and many other interesting presentations on global developments. We are working on the possibilities of organizing field trips to a bauxite mine, a bauxite transport pipeline, an alumina refinery, an aluminium smelter and a hydroelectric power plant, immediately after the Conference.

See the video below for an update about Brazil

ICSOBA 50TH ANNIVERSARY AND ICSOBA-VAMI-RUSAL CONGRESS ON BAUXITE, ALUMINA & ALUMINIUM, SEPTEMBER 2013 IN KRASNOYARSK, RUSSIA